LOCATION: Scottsdale, AZ
PRICE: $7,250 / month
SIZE: 6,195 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: There are handfuls of high profile people and all sorts of assorted celebrities who, for whatever reason(s), buy and sell real estate at a rate so rapid it boggles some, bewilders many and makes any of number of others about 99 kinds of pissed off. What drives the
the real estate rootlessness of so many famous folks is beyond our admittedly limited capacities to understand but buy, sell, rent, swap and trade they do. Such are the wacky and often inexplicable real estate ways of the rich and/or famous.
One of those famous-y folks who engages in frequent shufflings of his real estate portfolio is Frankie Muniz, the Malcom in the Middle child actor turned movie star (Agent Cody Banks franchise) turned open wheel race car driver. Mister Muniz appears to have put his toe back in showbiz waters with a recently completed starring role as an pizza delivering superhero in an as yet unreleased movie called Pizza Man. Sounds like a real turkey of a movie to Your Mama but we don't hate, children. We all gotta pay the bills, you know?
We have many times discussed the many real estate activities of Mister Muniz who has owned a number of homes in some of the finer zip codes in Los Angeles and in fact still owns a home above the Sunset Strip. Mister Muniz also owns two luxury residences in Arizona. He most recently bought a fancy-schmancy modern mansion near Camelback Mountain in Phoenix but had two years and some months previously purchased a newly constructed single-story mansion in Scottsdale that we've learned, thanks to a tipster we'll call Mary Hadalittledish, has become available for lease at $7,250 per month.
Property records indicate Mister Muniz acquired the faux-Tuscan stone and stucco farmhouse-type mansion in Scottsdale in May 2008 for $2,782,000. That was about the time he was busting up with one long term lady friend and gettin' with his current gal pal (and publicist) Elycia Turnbow. Mister Muniz and Miss Turnbow made all the tabloid headlines earlier this year (2011) after it was revealed the po-po were summoned to their Phoenix residence to deal with some sort of domestic disturbance. Lots of reports stated they hit each other and he stuck a gun to his head and threatened suicide in front of her. The couple–through Mister Muniz's publicist according to a report on CBSNews.com–acknowledge the police showed up but deny there was any hitting or gun-toting. His publicist? Isn't she his publicist? Oh, who cares? Whatever the facts of the private matter Mister Muniz recently tweeted to his fans, friends and family that "After four years together" Miss Turnbow had agreed to be his lawfully wedded wife. Mazel tov!
Listing information for the residence indicates the acre-plus mini-estate, nestled into the geologically dramatic northern slope of Scottsdale's Pinnacle Peak, sits behind the 24-hour guarded gates of the swanky, golf-oriented Estancia Club. The pricey and pristine master-planned Estancia Club community weaves in and around a private 18-hole Tom Fazio-designed golf course open only to it's 325 members and their invited guests.
A long driveway swoops from the street along the side of the house to a substantial motor court with circular paver-stone design and front-facing three car garage. The front door opens into a voluminous entrance hall with stone tile floor, vaulted ceiling with exposed wood beams and trusses and mottled, mock-suede taupe colored Venetian plaster walls.
The entrance hall opens into the a double-height formal living room with fireplace and towering arched window with desert-y view over the perfectly aligned swimming pool and towards the craggy mountain tops of Pinnacle Peak. A few steps up from the entrance all there's a formal dining room with high wood-beamed ceiling, wood floors, and a view of the motor court.
Less formal family quarters includes a tile floored family room with French doors and a fireplace surrounded by built-in cabinetry outfitted with flat-screen tee-vee, tchotchke display shelves and enclosed cabinets for hiding the cable television equipment and the Wii (or whatever). The family room opens to a colossal and well-equipped center island kitchen with granite counter tops, snack bar and custom cabinetry with integrated professional-grade appliances. The Like the formal dining room the informal dining area that adjoins the kitchen also has a view of the motor court.
In addition to the large television over the fireplace in the family room, the mansion has a wood-paneled home theater with large screen and two rows of tiered seating with eight caramel-colored reclining leather seats with built-in drink cups.
The master suite has wall-to-wall carpeting almost exactly the same color as the mottled taupe Venetian plaster walls, a tray ceiling, over-sized wall-mounted flat-screen tee-vee and a teeny-tiny sitting nook with carved stone (or maybe molded concrete) fireplace. The attached master bathroom has a lot of beige stone and tile work, double sinks, separate make-up vanity, shower cubicle with built-in bench for leg-shaving and etc., and a soaking tub for two.
The family room opens to an L-shaped veranda with wood-beamed ceiling supported by chunky wood posts that frame a head on view of Pinnacle Peak. The veranda has a couple different areas for lounging and dining plus a built in barbecue station.
Just a couple years after snatching up the Scottsdale property, Mister Muniz and, we presume, soon to be Missus Muniz caught a case of The Celebrity Real Estate Fickle and paid $2,650,000 for a newly completed contemporary crib almost 23 miles to the south in an upscale neighborhood near the red sandstone cliffs of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. Listing information shows the boxy concrete and glass residence (above) sits on more than a half acre, measures 5,438 square feet and contains 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Additional celebrity-style amenities include a 31-foot long master bedroom with sitting room, media room, exercise room with sauna, game room, den/ office, 4-car attached garage, and a resort-style back yard with swimming pool, spa, built-in barbecue station and a sport court wedged uncomfortably into the front corner of the front yard separated by a wee patch of grass from the basketball hoop-equipped motor court.
In addition to his Phoenix and Scottsdale residences, Mister Muniz maintains a residence in Los Angeles that he bought in January 2006 for $3,499,000 and has had on and off the market since October of 2007 when it was listed at $3,875,000 and as late as March 2011 when it was listed with a price tag of $3,195,000. The house was taken off the market when it was leased to Cee Lo Green in March (2011) for an unknown amount of money–Mister Muniz was asking $10,000 per month–for an undisclosed period of time. Mister Green is part of the R&B/hip hop duo Gnarls Barkley and most recently appeared as a judge on reality show singing contest The Voice with Christina Aguilera, country music's Blake Shelton and Adam Levine of Maroon 5.
Your Mama does not know a heating pad from a javelina so we know zip, nada and zilch about Mister and soo-to-be Missus Muniz's future real estate plans. However, iffin we were the betting type–and we're not–we'd wager they'll soon be packing their bags for destination(s) unknown. Not only has it become young Mister Muniz's pattern to buy and sell homes a fairly quick clip, marriage happens to be one of the many reasons rich and famous folks alike think they need a new house in which to start their new life of betrothed (if sometimes allegedly turbulent) bliss.
listing photos (Scottsdale): Sotheby's International Realty (via Hot Pads)
listing photos (Phoenix): Independence Realty Professionals, Inc. (via Redfin)
